A baddie goes before a judge who decides yep, this guy's a baddie and wants to keep him locked up leading up to trial. The judge sets a bond of $350,000. There, that oughta do it. Except the defendant can walk across the street and get -- are you sitting down? -- a $0 money down bail bond with the promise of say a payment plan of $75 a week. Suuuuure, you bet the baddie will sign that. He's now free. No money down and a small installment plan (which, let's face facts he's not going to pay on, surprise he just wanted out) gets a complete walkaround from the judge's intentions. Got your attention?
Thomas Zambito with the Star-Ledger pulls back the curtain on this shameful trend in the bail bond industry that is putting the legitimate bondsmen out of business. You know that 0% down bond the baddie got? The judges and prosecutors aren't often told baddie is out walking the street. Out walking the street and say murdering a two-year old Newark boy like Wakir Bryant, the beneficiary of three payment plans. Court workers are more than frustrated:
"You’re lowering the defendant’s bail without the judge’s consent or approval," said Assistant Prosecutor Roger Imhof, the deputy chief of the trial section for the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office. "A judge of the Superior Court is saying the bail should be $200,000, and a bail bond company is saying he’s ROR (released on his own recognizance)."
Grab a drink and read this one friends, and then contact the powers that be when you're done.
Isn't good journalism a great thing?
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